cC. «e 




"• c;c 


(<?< «z: _. -«K3. 


^cr '<!.•• ■'<! d" 


cc <: 


S3C <CZj-~: 


del i «Cc 


^•<T *CT i 


^CL, '.C ' c~ c • 


cC'.. <C 


c< <: 


^ cc , -<c* 


<cz« 


«: <: ci <:« 


- C^ « 


:^-< «£3<, 


c< «c; 


c«cr: «r<<: 


«d <r c c - 


CC ' 


r ; : 3--". 


" CC -<3: 


:«C1<«3^ 


«c_c <c <iy 


~ C <3 




CC <1 


C^ 


^«d c c <l 


<„<C c 


£* c 4CZ32 


S " cc <c 


~ c- 4*£3c< 


w. «cr c c <: 


■: C 


<c;' ^CH?^' 


<3T^ 




<^~ < c c 


C 




" <3£L.<0* 


r: «:■ 


«cc< c; <: cc < 


' . gix 


C 4C3^ r 


CC_ <^< 


1 €*C_i<^ 


«d>£ c "<:« < 


t 


•C .'■"" 


S< ' C^l..'< 


C-j^C 


C«^-C<- *ti* 


c:<c_ 


<r\< 4djC 


c • 


<::<^c 


r'«S£lcc-«t;- 


<:: <3 


r > 4cn^ 


c <CC C 


C «sc 


: €lc .-c c: 


,<c, <jcr:< 


v c .4tt^ZP y<: ' 




c -<^c<si 


c^< <:: 


< <gr..< 


:' ■■< -"4CZ'^' 


C CC" C/ 


c <ic<§: 


C^c-C <L 


**cx 


<f < <C: ^ 


, CjC C 


"c «ZC<g 


3 «XTC<". <;.. 


. *c*. c 


x <£ 


< CC'< 


c «z:cct 


, . c . 


C 41 


- CS 


c: CC c 


c <C2._c c 


^cicc'<r'«c:'3c 




< Cc 


c<:c( 


*d ...c c 


<§Cc< <r«c <: ;j 




^ CC 


cccc 


4d_IC ■': C. 


c:^. <:_ «: <^ -3 


'^■Cj^- 


c c CC 


Cc < 


c. ^C 


<£~5_.^ <i <m& <«c. 


«C 


ccc3 


CC C 


Ci-CT <:■.:<: 


i «^I^ c <:; 


^C<: 


1 < . o 


C<" « 


: - «d <r « 


c <iC^ ^ , ci' <«sr<d 


«*sc 




c<> : c< 


<: c < 


:<r^^ci_ <i<: 



LIBRARY OF CONGRE? 
f 'PTS 



UNITED STATES OP AMERICA. 



. c<::^ 

'CC. 

,, <ic, 

.- c - 
CC 

c< 



■ -4BSZS'<«Zi 



««:<•€: 



«:':- ^c*> 
■ ««cc <^;:<; 



<3< 






-<i^^^c:< 



<^<r c:<i 

7'Coc:;" 
<rc:c<: 



<ccC 



■•: <:_•<: 



C<XC 



<Lccc; 









<ftx: 






<CJc 










c<<:< 


: 


CSC . 




_OC 




<C:. 




d_ «CC_< 



: cc 



«d_ car. 



■^C I r - 












s ess:./ 



IS THERE A HELL? 



AN INQUIRY AND AN ANSWER. 



BY 



/ 



REV. JOHN A. CASS, A. M. 



BOSTON: 

D. LOTHROP AND COMPANY, 
Cok. Franklin and Hawley Sts. 

1878. 




.C1> 



COPYRIGHT, 

1878, 

By D. Lothrop & Co. 



The Library 
of Congress 

WASHINGTON 



Stereotyped at the Boston Stereotype Foundry, 
No. 19 Spring Lane. 



IS THERE A HELL? 



o^o 



PRELIMINARY. 

If you will open your atlas at the map of 
Africa, you will observe, at the westward of the 
Nile River and Tanganyika Lake, an extensive 
tract of country marked " Unexplored." The 
map shows no mountains, no rivers, no lakes, 
simply because no one knows what is there. It is 
" unexplored/' But Stanley is on his way back 
to America. If, on his arrival, he should an- 
nounce that, in the centre of that hitherto un- 
known territory, he had discovered a great lake, 
to which, on account of its dismal surroundings, 
he had given some name of fearful omen, — if 
such an announcement should be made by him, 
two things would certainly follow. 

3 



4 Is there a Hell ? 

1. All map-makers would henceforth indicate 
a lake in that region. 

2. It would become known to every schoolboy 
by the name which Stanley gave it. 

There is another land, to us all " unexplored," 
— the geography of which has never been written 
by mortals, — the land of the Hereafter. But, 
eighteen hundred years ago, there came to earth 
One who knew every rood of that territory, and 
who declared that somewhere within its boundaries 
is a Lake of such awful characteristics that He 
named it "Hell," and bade us go not near it. 
Now the common-sense of mankind insists upon 
two things here. 

1. In all our maps of that country, we must 
somehow indicate that Lake. 

2. It must be known by the name which Christ 
gave it — the Lake of Hell. 

We may not be able to give its precise location, 
but the failure to give the exact latitude and lon- 
gitude of a*place does not prove its non-existence. 
Jesus Christ, and He alone, is able to inform us 
whether there be such a Lake ; and if he affirms 
it, that must some-time end all controversy as to its 



Preliminary. 5 

existence. By general consent the Theological 
World is to-day asking this question : What does 
the Bible teach us about Hell ? It is a question 
freighted with the eternal interests of all souls. 
With solemnized minds, and hearts uplifted for 
divine illumination, let us seek for an answer. 

Webster's Unabridged Dictionary gives the fol- 
lowing definitions of the word " Hell." 

1. " The place of the dead, or of souls after 
death ; the lower regions, or the grave ; called in 
Hebrew Sheol, and by the Greeks Hades." 

2. " The place or state of punishment for the 
wicked after death; the abode of evil spirits." 

Commonly we emplojr the word in this second- 
ary sense, but both meanings are allowable, and 
frequent in English. Are the Hebrew and Greek 
words, for which "hell" stands as equivalent, 
employed in the same way in the Scriptures ? 
" Search, and look." There are three words ren- 
dered into English by the word " hell," which we 
purpose to examine very carefully. 

These are (1) Slwol — pure Hebrew — found 
onty in the Old Testament; (2) Hades — pure 
Greek — found in the New Testament ; (8) Gf-ee- 
Hinnom — a compound word — found in this form 



6 Is there a Hell ? 

in the Old Testament, and occurring in the New- 
Testament, in the proper Grecized form, Ge- 
henna.* 

In examining these words, if anywhere, we shall 
get light ; for this problem as to the existence of 
hell is first and last a question of philology — a 
study of the meaning of words. 

* We omit all discussion of the word Tartarosas, rendered 
in 2 Pet. ii. 4, " cast down to hell," as it occurs nowhere else, 
and when taken in connection with the context presents no diffi- 
culties. The meaning of the term " Tartarus " will be explained 
in the discussion of Hades. 



SheoL 7 

II. 
SHEOL. 

This word occurs sixty -four times in the Old 
Testament. Thirty times it is translated by the 
English word " grave ; " three times by the word 
" pit," meaning the same as the grave ; . and thirty- 
one times by the word " hell." 

An example of the first rendering is seen in 
Gen. xxxvii. 35, where Jacob said,, concerning the 
supposed death of Joseph, " I will go down into 
the grave unto my son mourning." An example 
of the second is found in Numi xvi. 32, where it 
is said of Korah and his company, " They, and all 
that appertained to them, went, down alive into the 
pit, and the earth closed over them, and they per- 
ished from among the congregation." An instance 
of the third rendering is seen in Ps. xvi. 10, where 
David represents Christ as saying, " Thou wilt not 
leave my soul in hell ; neither wilt thou suffer thine 
Holy One to see corruption; " i. e., say all com- 
mentators, thou wilt not leave me in the grave, 
nor suffer thy consecrated Messiah to consume, or 



8 Is there a Hell ? 

to be turned to corruption there. In other words, 
thou wilt raise me from the dead, before the grave 
exercises the power of corruption over me. So 
Peter construes the passage in Acts, and applies 
it to the resurrection of Christ from the grave. 

Observe, in the first example " the grave" rep- 
resents Sheol ; in the second example " the pit " 
stands for Sheol ; in the third example "hell " is 
put for Sheol. Of course " the grave," " the pit," 
and "hell," mean one and the same thing here. 
And this is true of all the sixty-four instances in 
which Sheol occurs. It never means " hell " in 
the sense in which we commonly use that word ; 
i. e., to designate a place of future misery. Pro- 
fessor Moses Stuart, of Andover, speaking of the 
word Sheol, says it means commonly (in fifty-nine 
cases out of sixty-four) "the under-world, the 
region of the dead, the grave, the sepulchre, the 
region of ghosts or departed spirits." And though 
Mr. S. thinks there are five passages* in which 
the word may hint at something beyond the grave, 

* Job xxi. 13. Ps. ix. 17. Prov. v. 5; ix. 18; xxiii. 14. The 
reader will bear in mind that it requires some ingenuity to dis- 
cover the probability above alluded to in these passages. 



SheoL 9 

still he says that to assert this as more than 
"probable," would be " somewhat hazardous." * 

Against the supposition that the Old Testament 
writers ever meant by using the word Sheol to 
designate a place of future retribution, stands this 
incontrovertible fact ; viz., they had no clear 
knowledge of rewards or punishments in a future 
life. Their motives to obedience were all drawn 
from this world. The rewards and punishments 
of the Mosaic law were all temporal. Obedience 
w r as to be followed by prosperity ; disobedience by 
adversity. The blessings for obedience to law 
were long life, fruitful fields, success in battle, the 
possession of a land flowing with milk and honey. 
The curses for disobedience were premature death, 
weakness and terror in the presence of their ene- 
mies, blighting, mildew and famine. Undoubtedly 
they believed in a future life, but their notions 
respecting it were of the vaguest sort. They con- 
ceived of Sheol as a place deep,f and dark, J having 
within it depths on depths, § and fastened with 
gates || and bars.^f It was all-devouring,** insatia- 

* Future Punishment. f Job xi. 8. J Job xi. 21, 22. 

§ Prov. ix. 18. || Isa. xxxviii. 10. 

T Job xvii. 16. ** Prov. i. 12; xxx. 16. 



10 Is there a Hell 1 

ble,* and remorseless,! — precisely such thoughts 
as we commonly associate with the grave, — but 
it had no reference to the happiness or misery of 
the dead.J 

Against the supposition that the translators of 
the Old Testament meant by using the word 
" hell " to indicate a place of future retribution, 
stands this fact; viz., the word " hell " did not 
then § have the exclusive meaning which we com- 
monly attach to it. The proof of this is seen in 
the so-called Apostles' Creed, where it is said that 
Christ, after his crucifixion, " descended into hell" 
Of course it does not mean that our Lord went to 

* Isa. v. 14. 

t Cant. viii. 6. 

% We are far from saying the Hebrews had no hopes or fears 
of the future. Such passages as Ps. xi. 5, 6; Isa. iii. 11, 
xxxiii. 14; Ps. xxvi. 9; Isa. lxvi. 24; Ps. lxxiii. 24-26, and 
others, indicate that they had vague notions concerning it, But 
no clear views ; especially they had no clear conception of a 
place of retribution. So Jahn, Milman, and most scholars. 

If Sheol were to be taken to represent any but a general 
idea of the future, we should agree with Poole, that it "far 
more often signineth the place of the blessed, whither the saints 
and patriarchs went when they died, than the place whither 
sinners went." 

§ A. D. 1611. 



SheoL 11 

a place of torment, but rather that he entered the 
realm of death.* Webster says the word " hell " 
is derived from the Anglo-Saxon lielan, to cover 
or conceal. To cover a thing was at first called 
" helling " it. Even now in Cornwall this ancient 
meaning is retained, and the slating of a house is 
there termed " helling" In Lancashire the covers 
of books are still called the "helling." This no- 
tion of covering or concealment, then, was the 
more common one expressed by the word " hell " 
in the time of James I., and when put hj our 
translators to represent the Hebrew Sheol it did 
represent it accurately, and meant simply the 
grave, or the realm of the dead, as covered, hid, 
concealed from mortal eyes. But two centuries 
are sufficient for any word to acquire a different 
meaning from what it had at first ; and so it came 
to pass that we, importing our modern sense of 
the word into the Old Testament, think we read 
of " hell " as a place of torment, when it only 
means the place or region of the dead. 

* We are aware that some have tried to make out that Christ 
did really descend to hell, the place of torment. But the ahsurd 
idea is based upon an utterly absurd interpretation of 1 Pet. 
iii. 19, 20, or on an exploded and generally abandoned theory 
of the Atonement. 



12 Is there a Hell? 

We conclude, then, that the Orthodox doctrine 
concerning a place of future retribution for the 
wicked does not rest upon the word Sheol, nor 
upon the word " hell," employed by the translators 
to represent it. It is more than probable that by 
Sheol the Hebrews understood simply the realm 
of the dead, without any reference to their happi- 
ness or misery ; and it is eminently probable that 
the translators meant by using the word " hell " 
to represent the same idea. Had the doctrine of 
future retribution no firmer support than the word 
Sheol) we should discard it instantly and forever. 



Hades. 13 

III. 
HADES. 

This Greek word, translated " hell " in the New 
Testament, next claims our attention. It is uni- 
versally allowed among critics and theologians that 
this word is the exact equivalent of the Hebrew 
Sheol, of which we have just treated. Of course, 
then, it does not mean " hell " in the sense of a 
place of retribution. It occurs in the New Testa- 
ment only eleven times. It is ten times translated 
"hell," and is once rendered "grave," — in the 
expression, " O grave, where is thy victory ? " 

Before examining the passages where it occurs, 
let us see if we can find what the common usage 
of the word was in the time of our Lord's sojourn 
on earth. Fortunately we have all the light 
needed at this point. 

The term Hades was borrowed from the old Gre- 
cian mythology, and was the name of one of its 
gods. It was there taught that the three sons of 
Saturn were Hades, Jupiter, and Neptune. Saturn 
had formerly ruled over all things ; but in the di- 



14 Is there a Hell ? 

vision of the kingdom among his sons, Jupiter was 
made ruler of the air, and Neptune ruler of the 
sea, while to Hades was given dominion over the 
under-world, the grave, the place of the dead, the 
realm of departed spirits.* 

Naturally the name of the mythical god Hades 
came in time to represent also the place over which 
he was supposed to rule, and when the myth died 
out from men's minds, the name Hades remained 
to indicate the abode of the dead. 

But this realm of death had its divisions, or 
compartments, into one or other of which, accord- 
ing to their fitness, all souls went. The part as- 
signed to the* wicked was called Tartarus ; f that 
of the righteous was named Elysium ; while Hades 
was the general term for the realm including both 
Elysium and Tartarus. When the Jews came to 
use the Greek language, as they had done before, 
and continued to do after, the birth of our Saviour, 
they naturally employed, to express their ideas of 
the spirit-world, the terms which the Greeks had 
used to express their ideas of the same place. 
Hence Hades meant to the Jews in Christ's time 

* So we personify Death, and speak of Mm as the King of 
terrors. t 2 Pet. ii. 4. 



Hades. 15 

just what it meant to the Greeks (and just what 
jSheol meant to the Hebrews in Old Testament 
times) — the world of the dead, the abode of de- 
parted souls. And as the Greeks divided Hades 
into two parts, so did the Jews.* Professor 
Townsend, in substance quoting Josephus, says : 
" The ancient Greeks and the Jews divided Hades 
into two parts, one division being the temporary- 
abode of the righteous, the other that of the wick- 
ed ; the first, or upper part, was a place of happi- 
ness, though not necessarily of judicial rewards ; 
the other a place of suffering, though not of 
judicial punishment." f 

This is all in the intermediate state prior to the 
resurrection and the judgment. J After the judg- 
ment, that part of Hades known as Paradise, § 
where Christ promised to meet the penitent thief, 
and where Abraham and Lazarus arS consciously 
existing, will be merged in what is known as the 
New Jerusalem, — or Heaven proper, ■ — which 
shall descend from God, and into which the right- 

* It is remarkable how little the gospel introduced new sym- 
bols. The eucharist, the church, baptism, &c, are all based 
upon some well-known usage, but lifted into a higher meaning. 
So it is with the use of words, as we shall see further on. 

t " Lost Forever." % Josephus. § So called after the exile. 



16 Is there a Hell ? 

eous will be welcomed ; * while that part of Hades 
where the wicked are now confined, will be merged 
into the ultimate place of judicial punishment, — 
into Gehenna, or hell proper, — amid the closing 
scenes of the judgment.! 

We are now prepared to look at some of the 
passages in which Hades is found rendered into 
English by the word " hell." 

In Matt. xvi. 18 we read, " Upon this rock I 
will build my church ; and the gates of hell shall 
not prevail against it." Hades is the word ren- 
dered " hell," and the obvious meaning is that the 
church shall never see death, shall never cease to 
exist. In Matt. xi. 23, Christ declares that Caper- 
naum, which, on account of his residence there, had 
been exalted to heaven in point of privilege, should 
also be brought down to "hell," where evidently the 
word means destruction ; for certainly the city had 
not been lifted to heaven, nor did it ever after 
come down to hell, in the sense in which we use 
those terms. Rev. vi. 8 has these words : " And 
I looked, and behold, a pale horse : and his name 

* Eev. xxi. 1-7. Matt. xxv. 34. 

t Rev. xx. 13, 14. Matt. xxv. 41. Townscnd, slightly 
changed. 



Hades. 17 

that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with 
him." " Hell " here is simply Hades, the realm of 
the dead, and the imagery employed is that of a 
terrible warrior going forth to kill, and send men 
to the spirit-world. And so of all the eleven in- 
stances in which the word Hades occurs, it inva- 
riably means the region of the dead, or the abode 
of departed spirits, without any reference to their 
happiness or misery. It is precisely equivalent to 
Sheol among the Hebrews, and never means " hell " 
in the sense of a place of final retribution. 

The Orthodox doctrine concerning future retri- 
bution does not rest upon this word Hades, nor upon 
the term " hell " which represents it in English.* 
If it had no firmer base than this, we should dis- 
card the doctrine at once and forever, and cry 
anathemas upon the men who teach it. 

* We are not unmindful of Luke xvi. 23. Hades is the term 
here used, and Dives is said to be in torment. But obviously 
he was not yet in Gehenna fire. He was not utterly 
abandoned, as the request concerning his brethren indicates. 
He was simply enduring the normal consequences of a life of sin. 
Lazarus is represented in that part of Hades called Paradise, 
while the general term is used to designate the place of the rich 
man. Dives was not in hell, the place of final retribution. 
(Townsend, in "Lost Forever.") 

2 



18 Is there a Hell ? 

IV. 
GEHENNA. 

So far we have found no hell of misery for 
lost souls. Shall we find any ? Two of the 
words which are sometimes translated " hell " 
have been shown to mean the region of the 
dead, the abode of departed spirits. Cannot the 
remaining word be shown to have the same 
meaning? Would God it might be so. Heaven 
and earth should join in one eternal hallelujah 
if it could be shown that the remaining word 
Gehenna had no other meaning. O, what unut- 
terable joy would come to a thousand homes, 
from which some unsaved ones have gone into 
eternity, if it could be shown that there is no 
eternal misery in Grehenna ! But this cannot be 
shown. The fair scheme of so-called Universal 
Salvation is shivered to atoms on this rock. All 
the wisdom of the ages has failed, so far, to 
escape the obvious meaning of this awful word. 
No argument has ever fallen from lip or pen 
which can for one moment satisfy an unpreju- 



Gehenna. 19 

diced inquirer after truth. We find no doctrine 
of hell in Sheol ; we find no future misery taught 
by the word Hades ; but Gehenna does teach the 
doctrine of a hell of endless misery. Gehenna ! 
Upon this word the doctrine rests immovably 
firm. Gehenna! From this awful word shoot 
forth the lurid flames of perdition. Gehenna! 
In its echoes we hear the wails of lost souls. 
Gehenna ! In the presence of this word of fear- 
ful omen let us lay aside all dogmatic assertion, 
and reverently seek to learn the truth. 

What does the word mean ? All men are 
agreed that Grelienna is the Greek form of the 
Hebrew words Gree-Hinnom, and that it literally 
means "the valley of Hinnorn." This was a 
pleasant valley at the south of Jerusalem by the 
brook Kedron. Here; in ancient times and under 
idolatrous kings, the worship of Moloch, the idol- 
god of the Ammonites, was practised. The head 
of this idol was like that of an ox, while the rest 
of its body resembled that of a man. The image 
was hollow, and was heated by fire before the sac- 
rifice began. Then young children were laid in 
its arms and actually roasted alive — offered thus 
in sacrifice to Moloch. The place was sometimes 



20 Is there a Hell ? 

called Tophet,* from a word meaning Tympanum, 
because in those sacrifices the priests beat vio- 
lently the tympana, lest the shrieks of the dying 
children should disturb the worshippers. But 
when these horrible rites were abolished by Jo- 
siah, and the Jews began again to worship God, 
they detested this valley as the scene of their 
awful guilt. Josiah caused to be carried there 
all the filth and offal of Jerusalem, and the place 
was desecrated, and made one of loathing and 
horror. For above six hundred years it had been 
regarded by the Jews as the common lay-stall of 
Jerusalem — a receptacle into which they threw 
every species of filth, as well as the carcasses of 
animals, and the dead bodies of executed crimi- 
nals. To prevent the pollution of the air from 
this mass of decaying matter, fines were kept 
incessantly burning from the beginning to the end 
of the year. Hence came the phrase " The fires 
of Gehenna." And as the offal would breed 
worms, as all putrefying meat does, there also 
arose the expression u Where the worm dieth 
not." 

To the Jewish mind this valley was associated 

* In Jeremiah. 



Gehenna. 21 

with all that was most fearful, horrible, and ap- 
palling ; and was the fittest symbol on earth to 
represent the place of future retribution, in the 
existence of which they now fully believed.* It 
is now agreed by most men, — theologians, crit- 
ics, historians, and poets, whether Christian or 
infidel, — and is beyond successful contradiction 
from any man, that during our Lord's sojourn 
on earth, and for at least two hundred years 
prior to his advent, the Jews employed the phrase 
"valley of Hinnom" as a symbol of the fearful 
retribution of the future world; and when, iii 
conformity to their law,f they cast an apostate % 
Israelite into its filth and flame, all men knew 
that in like manner God would cast his soul into 
a Grehenna of misery in another world. And now 
let it be noted and pondered : This valley, with 

* When this idea took definite shape in their minds is not 
known. Probably at some period between the close of the Old 
Testament canon and the year 200 b. c. Stuart thinks it may 
have been handed down by tradition from some period even 
earlier. See also Universalist writers : Fernald, Hanscom, 
Whittemore, and Balfour. 

t Matt. v. 22. 

% Apostasy in a Theocracy is high-treason — a crime pun- 
ishable with death in all well-ordered governments. 



22 Is there a Hell ? 

all its sickening and horrible associations, was 
seized upon by Jesus Christ, and by him made 
to represent the place and condition of all wicked 
men in the world to come, precisely as the Jews 
did then employ, and for hundreds of years had 
employed it in all their speech concerning the 
hereafter. Ay, let it be noted and pondered yet- 
again : He who left his bright home in Glory to 
die for man ; He whose advent in human form 
was heralded by angelic music and blazing star ; 
He who spent his life in healing the sick, in 
comforting the sorrowing, and in doing good; He 
who told us of the home of many mansions ; He 
who left his pathway from the manger to Geth- 
semane marked with tears, and from Gethsem- 
ane to Calvary with blood ; He whose tender, 
compassionate soul cried out, while on the Cross, 
for his murderers, " Father, forgive them, for they 
know not what they do," — yea, even He, our 
Saviour, Brother, Friend, and Teacher of all 
teachers, "who came to correct all false notions, 
seized upon this term, and, without qualification, 
used it in all its appalling significance to desig- 
nate the place of future and endless retribution." 
Turn we then to note the cases where the 



Gehenna. 23 

Master used the word — the fearful word — Ge- 
henna. 

It occurs in the New Testament twelve times, 
and in every instance is rendered into English 
by the word "hell." That it means, in each 
case, a place of future misery, is clear to any 
unprejudiced mind. 

The Sermon on the Mount furnishes three ex- 
amples of its use. Matt. v. 21, 22, reads: " Ye 
have heard that it was said by them of old time, 
Thou shalt not kill ; and whosoever shall kill 
shall be in clanger of the judgment : But I say 
unto you, That whosoever is angry with his 
brother without a cause shall be in danger of the 
judgment : and whosoever shall say to his brother, 
Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but who- 
soever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger 
of hell-fire." Clarke says: "There are three 
offences here which exceed each other in their 
degrees of guilt. 1. Anger against a man accom- 
panied with some injurious act." For this a man 
was liable to be brought before the "judgment," 
or Jewish court of twenty-three, which could in- 
flict the punishment of strangling. 

" 2. Contempt, expressed by the opprobrious ep- 



24 Is there a Hell ? 

itliet raca, or shallow-brains." For this one could 
be summoned before the " Council," or Sanhe- 
clrin, to receive sentence of death by stoning. 

"Hatred and mortal enmity expressed by the 
term moreh, or apostate, where such apostasy 
could not *be proven." For this offence one 
could be burnt alive in the valley of Hinnom.* 

These facts were well known by the people to 
whom our Lord was speaking. But is he simply 
telling them what they already knew about Jew- 
ish law ? Would such utterances have caused 
the people to be "astonished" at his teaching? 
Surely not. Every man who heard him, knew 
that Christ was speaking of purely spiritual mat- 
ters. What is meant, then, must be that God 
will punish men in a future world with differ- 
ent degrees of severity, such as were symbolized 
by the several modes of punishment employed 
among the Jews. Stuart well says of this: "It 
seems impossible to give the passage any other 
rational, defensible meaning. It follows, of course, 
that though Gehenna is here referred to in its lit? 

* It will be remembered that apostasy, high-treason, was 
punishable with death. Here it is seen that if the charge was 
not proven, the penalty was inflicted upon the accuser. 



Gehenna. 25 

eral sense, yet- the meaning of the whole passage 
does not permit us to understand the idea in- 
tended to be conveyed as a literal one. It is 
employed as a source of imagery, to describe the 
punishment of a future world, which the Judge 
of all hearts and intentions will inflict." 

Again, in verses 29, 30, of this same chapter, 
Christ says that, if one's right hand or right eye 
should offend, or cause him to sin, it. were better 
to cut off the hand, or pluck out the eye^ and so 
avoid sinning, than to retain both and be cast 
into "hell." Gehenna is the word. But "most 
certainly this cannot be understood of a literal 
casting into Gehenna; for who w T as to execute 
such a punishment ? Not the Jewish courts, for 
they had no knowledge of the offence which a 
man's right hand or right eye moved him to 
commit ; i. e., they could not call in question and 
punish a member of the human body because it 
tempted its owner to sin. It must then be a 
punishment which God would inflict. But was 
this -a literal casting in the •" valley of Hin- 
nom"?* 

* Stuart. 



26 Is there a Hell ? 

In Matt, xxiii. 15 we find Christ saying that 
the Scribes and Pharisees would compass sea and 
land to make one proselyte, and that when he had 
been gained, he would be " twofold more a child 
of Gehenna" than his proselyters; i. e., he would, 
because more wicked than they, be doubly de- 
serving the punishment of hell. Surely no one 
will take this as a literal reference to the valley 
of Hinnom,-for there never existed a practice, or 
a law authorizing the practice, of casting a man 
into that valley of fire because he had by change 
of views become a Pharisee. 

In Matt, xxiii. 30, Christ says: "How can ye 
(Scribes and Pharisees) escape the damnation of 
Gehenna?" Does he mean to ask, " How can ye 
escape being cast alive into the valley of Hin- 
nom?" Were they in any danger of such pun- 
ishment ? Nay ; but they were the most powerful 
and most popular party in Jerusalem. But when 
we remember that they were so intensely wicked 
that Jesus called them " whited sepulchres," and 
" a generation of vipers," it becomes clear that 
they were in danger of suffering the torments 
of hell in another world. 

Passing the other examples, which are equally 



Gehenna. 27 

clear with those now quoted, we select for the 
]ast passage Matt. x. 28 : " Fear not them which 
kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul : 
but rather fear him which is able to destroy both 
soul and body in hell." Grelienna is the word. 
"Destroy both soul and body in Gehenna!" 
The body might indeed be burned in that awful 
valley ; but could the soul — the immaterial and 
immortal soul — be destroyed there? It must 
be obvious to the most cursory reader, and to 
the profoundest searcher of this text, that Christ 
here speaks of Grelienna in another world, into 
which God is able to cast the soul. The "hell" 
of this verse is so evidently real, though future, 
that no man can reason it out of existence. 

Now, then, what have we learned in our study 
thus far? 

1. That Slieol, in the Old Testament sometimes 
translated " hell," does not mean a place of future 
misery, but simply the region of the dead, the 
abode of departed spirits, without any reference 
to their happiness or misery ; and that the doc- 
trine of a place of future retribution does not 
rest on this word. 

2. That Hades, in the New Testament some- 



28 Is there a Hell ? 

times translated " hell," does not mean a place 
of future misery, but simply the region of the 
dead, the abode of departed spirits, without any 
reference to their happiness or misery; and that 
the doctrine of a place of future retribution does 
not rest on this word. 

3. That Gehenna, in the New Testament uni- 
formly translated " hell," does mean, in every in- 
stance, a place of future misery ; and that the doc- 
trine of a place of future retribution does rest 
on this word as a chief corner-stone. 

Gehenna becomes, then, the most blood-curdling 
word in human speech, and is but faintly repre- 
sented by our word "hell" with all its horrible 
associations. 



Furthermore. 29 

V. 
FURTHERMORE. 

Ok one point let us not be misunderstood. We 
are not engaged in controversy — in trying to es- 
tablish the fact of a hell against any who deny it 
— but we are simply declaring the revelation of 
God. Few men to-day entertain any doubt about 
it, and most are agreed that we must indicate such 
a lake on our maps of the future world. 

Who are agreed concerning it ? 

1. The Evangelical Church, under -whatever 
name, on all the globe. 

2. The Roman Catholic Church, in all lands. 

• 3. The Greek Church, holding sway over 
countless acres of earth, and millions of men. 

4. All prominent Infidels and Skeptics in all 
lands and in all time. Such men as Paine in 
America, Hume in England, and Eenan in France, 
have declared that the -Bible does teach the exist- 
ence of hell. 

5. The Universalist Church. Mr. Balfour, in 
his " Inquiry," says : " Most Universalists have 



SO Is there a Hell ? 

conceded this to their opponents, that there is a 
place of future punishment. Winchester, Murray, 
Chauncey, Huntington, and others, all admit that 
there is a place of future punishment, and that the 
name of it is Hell." * 

6. It is the commonly received opinion in the 
Unitarian Church. 

7. It is involved, of necessity, in the creeds of 
all, of whatever name, who hold to the doctrine 
of Restorationism, or the graduation into happiness 
after a period of suffering in the future world. 

Who deny that there is a hell ? 

1. A very few among the Second Adventists — 
the more ignorant of them. 

2. A handful of gross Materialists of no religious 
belief. 

3. A few lisping Sentimentalists, whose only 
argument is, " O, w T hat a horrible thought ! It 
cannot be possible there is a hell." 

None others. All men who read the Bible with 
their eyes open do see in it the doctrine of a future 

* And after correspondence with some of the leading men of 
that church at the present time, and personal conversation with 
others, we fail to find any who are bold enough to deny its ex- 
istence, — though they say but little about it. 



Furthermore. 31 

hell. Whether it be eternal in duration, is a mat- 
ter which we reserve for future discussion. But 
be it eternal, or to exist only for a year, it behooves 
every soul to shun it, for it is the most fearful place 
in all God's universe. Human language is impotent 
to describe it, and Jehovah himself represents it 
by the figure of a lake burning with fire and brim- 
stone, in which are Satan, the fallen angels, and 
the false prophets ; the fearful, the unbelieving, 
and the abominable, with thieves, and drunkards, 
and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers* 
and idolaters, and all liars : and the condition of 
its inhabitants is so appalling that it is called in 
Scripture " the second death." 

Reader, is it not a fair inference from all this, 
that no mortal man, no archangel from Glory, no 
arch-fiend from Perdition, can picture it too dark- 
ly, or with too much emphasis or plainness of 
speech, warn us to fly to Christ for salvation, that 
we may escape being cast into Hell ? 



IS THERE A HELL? 



AN INQUIRY AND AN ANSWER. 



BY 



REV. JOHN A. CASS, A. M. 



BOSTON : 

D. LOTHROP AND COMPANY, 
Cor. Franklin and Hawley Sts. 

1878. 

ZPK-ICIE, IB CE1TTS. 



CONCESSIONS OF "LIBERALISTS" TO ORTHODOXY. 



By DANIEL DORCHESTER, D. D. 

l2mo. Cloth. $1.25. 

"The conception of the work is a happy one; the analysis 
of the subjects comprehensive and clear ; the concessions perti- 
nent and trustworthy, and wide enough in the ramie of authors 
to give them great cogency. The plan and execution are alike 

admirable." 

REV. PIEMAN LINCOLN, D. D. 



At a meeting of the Faculty of the School of Theology 
of Boston University, held at 20 Beacon Street, on February 
4th, the following resolution was passed : — 

Resolved, That we tender our warmest thanks to Rev. D. Dor- 
chester, D. D., for the able course of three Lectures delivered 
recently by him before the School of Theology, on the subject — 
"Concessions of Liberalists to Orthodoxy." For the extensive re- 
search shown by him, as well as the skilful presentation of the three 
cardinal topics, he is worthy of all commendation. We think these 
Lectures should be repeated before other schools of Theology, and, 
better yet, be given to the public by an immediate publication. 

J. E. LATIMER, 

Sec'y of Faculty, 



V 









02X 
<i kz <z c«c 









ex c r« 

4^ 






C <s < « <■ ' 






- «*c::x 



" ccci c< 





«c_ 


««?*. s 


<: 








<, i 


1 

1 





c <£; C < 



Deacidified using the Bookkeeper process. 
Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide 
Treatment Date: August 2005 



PreservationTechnoIogies 

A WORLD LEADER IN PAPER PRESERVATION 

1 1 1 Thomson Park Drive 
Cranberry Township, PA 16065 

(724) 779-21 1 1 



C(KC 



<jtec 



<: x c 






.<?:'C v' *C3^L:<I 



C CL 



C£C«CI 
<s, ope: 

ctc«cl~ 

" ex- 



<e^<L 



exec **c; «ei 
c *r_ <r: - 

' ^. ^<: <cr 



<JT- 



v^<«L. 


V C«<: 


£ <:<: 


s< «c 


<5< 








^t' XJvL 


<L cc 


c<Z 


Cc ci 


«cr-x 


- <: ■ «... 

COGc 

•X ^ <: 




ex c: 
i 


OCT 




c 




C C 


1 

1 
< 




« OS 


<s£c 


C*L « 




<l>x 


■ :*x "■ 


<Cc « 




4fi '<J^ 


C ' << 

c< 


c < ^ 




-.<?: <£:< 


( .(' 


<T r d 




& CC" 




Cx<I 


<- 


rev: <«r 


- 


cr^" 






4 

4Ti 




c 







CCC 



